Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July, everyone! We had rain here all day Saturday...not so fun, but it's a beautiful day today. I'm glad I took the outside pics on Friday- there's Daniel with Daddy under our flag and on the deck. Love his expression as he scoots around the deck and checks it out. :)

Daniel had Cheerios for breakfast on the 4th- you can see him shoveling one in, kind of, and then of course there's his reaction- still so serious. But he does eat them (we've been at them at all week!) and is actually not bad at getting a hold of them, for being so new at it. Now that he's eating finger foods, he finds all sorts of "finger foods" around the house- especially carpet fibers from our new carpet! There's no taking our eyes off of him now!

We got Daniel a little flag for his 4th of July pictures and he enjoyed trying to eat that and wave it around for a little bit while we took some cute pictures of our happy boy.

Funny story behind the next picture of Daniel and me: I was eating a cookie while holding him and he was fascinated by the cookie of course and wanted it and kept trying to take it as I put it in my mouth...well, so then he knew the cookie was in my mouth and would then try to eat my mouth- and that was my first "kiss" from Daniel! :) We did get him his own Gerber cookie that he hadn't yet tried and that worked out pretty well, though quite messy. Why does baby food have to get so mushy and sticky!?!

The last two pictures are from our 4th of July dinner- we had Ben's parents and sister here for dinner. Daniel's dinner was sweet potato puffs, which he's also had all week and does pretty well with, too. I love his expressions as he tries to pick them up. He works so hard at it. Good boy. We did try to give Daniel a small spoon of ice cream (doctor's orders! well maybe not orders but she did say we could try ice cream) and no way Jose did he want that. I think the cold shocked him! Plus we all know he has an aversion to food on spoons- hopefully the speech therapy this week will help him. And since Aunt Wendy was in town for the occasion and we don't see her very often, we got a picture of them together of course (yes, Daniel had plans of his own with that spoon- he was pretty squirmy for the picture!).

So that was our holiday. Fireworks blasted around our house courtesy of neighbors till at least 11:30 last night, but Daniel actually slept through them pretty well. Hope you all had a wonderful 4th!

Daniel's 1st Visit to the Park

My friend Coreen came over with her three boys today and we went to one of the parks in our subdivision. This was the first time I took Daniel to the park. It's a fun park with lots to do. There's even a mini playground set for kids aged 2-5, which I think is nice. Obviously Daniel's not that old, but I walked him across the bridge and bounced on it, and we sat down on the platform and even went down the slide- Daniel's 1st ride on a slide! What fun! Perhaps Daniel will soon feel brave enough to crawl in the tunnel (he didn't even really notice it much)- his friend Sebastian (11 months old) had a lot of fun with the tunnel. We even tried to sit in the grass again. Still not liking it much, but Daniel did at least make friends with it enough to want to try to eat it! And don't you just love the way he's holding his hands in the last picture, too?! In all, it was a fun trip and Daniel was a great sport, though he was pretty serious most of the time. Just checking it all out- that and it was getting to be nap time, too. Next time, Daddy will have to come with us!

SAHM: my wonderful job!

It's official. I'm now a SAHM- stay at home mom. I feel like I'm placing a personal ad, but that's the short version of my wonderful new job! (that's how the moms in my magazines and websites describe who they are- SAHM) I went to school today to let my wonderful, very understanding principal know that I'm not returning to school next year. Perhaps she can call me in five years! I still have to let the district office know and of course pack almost 9 years worth of materials in my classroom. Daniel got to crawl around the room today while I surveyed the task ahead of me. Oh and he got to listen to my "colors" CD- you should have seen his smile! I think I'll be setting that CD aside for him to listen to at home! Anyhow, I'll miss teaching, but I would not miss being home with Daniel for the world. And actually, I found myself getting to know a new friend recently and I told her I "was" a teacher- that's pretty telling already.

I enjoy EVERY minute of EVERY day (like the cute moment captured below!) and am so lucky to be able to be home with Daniel!

Check out the cute butt! Yes, Daniel actually slept this way (and yes he was breathing). Knees tucked under, feet crossed, butt up, arm curled around his lion and hanging onto the bumper. So adorable. A moment in time not to be missed...

Happy 9th Month, Daniel!

Daniel's 9 months old! He's a very busy 9 month old, too! He didn't really want to pose for his Mickey picture so much- mostly squirmed about, arched his back and tried to dive off the chair, but I managed to get a few smiles and cute photo shots thanks to his new "baby iPod" toy that has really fun songs. Daniel has 4 teeth- two on the bottom and two on the top- see bottom two pictures (click on them to make them bigger and really see the teeth!). Check out the blue shirt, too! The last picture was taken after a nap- told you he was happy after naps- and because of the angle, I managed to get a great shot of the top teeth for the first time. He's really been working his fingers and toys in the back/side of his mouth lately too- whether this is soothing for the teeth currently there or a sign of more teeth to come, we're not sure. Did you check out the scooting and exploring posts? Daniel LOVES exploring now and will actually ignore his toys just to go "scoot-roaming" about the room. Still not "crawling" really- it's more of a scoot than anything, but he's does those baby push-ups a lot. And sometimes even kind of "leap-frogs"- where he pushes up with his arms and torso and then scoots his butt and legs- it's hard to describe; I do think he's getting close to traditional crawling. He can do the baby push up and then step with one foot and then generally just thumps the whole body back to the floor. Sometimes instead of stepping he drops the knee, so he's working it out. All in good time.

Daniel has been napping great. Usually he sleeps for 1 1/2 to 2 hours two or three times a day. Nighttime he's been doing better in the last week- we're getting more 5, 6, 7 hour stretches with waking up just once or twice for feeding and then he always goes immediately back to sleep. So we have a good schedule there. And now I really try to run errands around his schedule since we have a good pattern and it really helps him. We take baths every night- which really helps Daniel's skin (he sure inherited Mommy's sensitive skin!)- and he likes playing with his toys and splashing the water. He has lots of fun in the bath most nights!

Daniel's latest FUN is now banging toys together or banging toys on the floor. This really entertains him quite endlessly. It's fun to watch. He loves to hear the sound the toys make when they crash together. It is rare now to see him with just one toy in his hands. And then there are times when he just wants to roam about and really wants nothing to do with toys. I've also noticed he's been getting more bored with his toys- I've been trying to put some toys away and get new ones out to change them up from time to time so they seem new again and this seems to work. He's just a busy boy with places to go and things to do! Quite understandable!

Daniel also had his doctor's appointment. He got one shot- cried for about 5 seconds and then was fine. Tough guy! And the doctor is happy with how he looks and how he's developing in terms of movement and skills, but he's still VERY little. In fact, he's actually below the charts with his growth. Daniel weighs 15 lbs 11 oz (he was 14-14 at 6 mos.- not even a pound's growth) and he's 26 1/2 inches long (25 last time). His head growth is fine, though- so we know his brain is growing and developing and that's a good sign. And since he's still NOT interested in food (can you even imagine NOT being interested in food?!) and therefore not getting the calories to grow, the doctor wants us to see a speech therapist to develop his feeding skills, and then she wants to see us again in 6 weeks. (I really like how proactive she is and how she wants to check up on us) We're also going to start doing more "people" foods and finger foods. The doctor suggested we move on and try Cheerios, crackers, mashed potatoes, baby yogurt, yogurt melts, Gerber puffs, even macaroni and cheese, etc- soft foods and finger foods where he can do it himself and practice gumming and chewing and get some/any food in him at all. We did Cheerios when we got home and he did okay with that. Got a few in! Daniel still needs to develop the pincer grasp- so he kind of "fists" the Cheerios in- it's pretty cute. We'll keep at it! I'll keep you posted on how the therapy goes once we get it all set up to do whatever it is they do. This will be interesting. First he's not breastfeeding and now he's not eating...what's up little guy? Whatever it takes- we'll do it. He's just such a happy baby, otherwise, and the love of our life! We love him so much and watching him grow and learn is just the BEST.

And that's Daniel's 9 month report in a nutshell, a really big one apparently! :)

Daniel the Explorer: A Video

Here's a video of Daniel doing a little exploring, but mostly banging that purple toy ring! Very cute! I should also say that this is the farthest he's gone into the kitchen during his scooting adventures.

Daniel the Explorer

Daniel loves to go exploring now! He just scoots all around- it's so cute to watch!

Here's Daniel checking out the carpet...nope, it doesn't taste good! Check out that face!

Just lounging around...

Great shot of Daniel's "baby push-up"- he does these ALL the time! He's getting so strong.

Yep, he even goes under the chair.

Checking out the kitchen...
I love the perspective here- you can see how small he is in comparison to the furniture and the size of the room.

Daniel's most favorite thing to do now...bang toys together or on the floor or on tables. Here he is having a ball with a toy ring. He must have banged that thing and dropped it to see it rattle to the floor a million times! So fun to watch!

Daniel even went to check out and climb into his car seat.

More uncharted territory to come!

A New Language

A new language for Daniel... German! Well, kind of. Our family friends, Linda (top picture) and her daughter Teresa (bottom two pics), from Germany came to visit over the weekend. Linda spoke some German to Daniel- it was pretty cute. I'm sure he didn't even notice; still it was fun to see their interaction. And Daniel enjoyed his little German book from Linda, too- so much that he ate it! It was fun to see them again- Teresa was probably around 4 the last time I saw them! Time flies!

Happy Father's Day!

Daniel was up and ready to say Happy Father's Day at 6:30am this morning! (this is early for him!) We let Daddy sleep, while Daniel and Mommy played. He really was wide awake... And you can't see in the picture, but he wore his special "Daddy's Helper" pj's.

Check out Daniel's special outfit just for Father's Day.

Daniel wanted to help Daddy read the card. (well, he really wanted to just eat it!)

A special Father's Day hug, with a wiggly baby!

Awww...father and son- so sweet

Daniel and Daddy check out our new deck (It's almost finished!)

Another view of our new deck and my guys checking it out

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! So Daniel woke up early (he seems to have a bit of a cold and hasn't been sleeping or napping that well- so the early hour was no surprise) and Mommy made chocolate eclairs for Daddy while Daniel played and Daddy slept. That worked out pretty well and it was a nice surprise for Ben. Later we gave Daddy his presents- a couple books to read with Daniel and a new engraved keychain. Puttered around the house and ran errands and had dinner at Grandma Mary Kay's house where Daniel got to taste some of Daddy's pineapple. He actually had a few pieces and didn't seem to mind it. (Hmmm...I'm sure he'd figure out it was food if I tried it again- but perhaps we're onto something and it may be worth a shot!) We'll see. So, that was our busy Father's Day- got some stuff done and got to hang out with our baby. Hope you fathers out there enjoyed your day, too!

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Not much news these past few days, just some adorable pictures! Uncle Brian came over yesterday with Grandma and we took a walk- Uncle Brian even got to drive the stroller! The bottom picture is weird- but that's because I was trying to show you Daniel's top two teeth working their way in. You can just barely see them in the picture. We can feel the one on his left already and the other one is not too far behind! The other pictures are just me having fun with the camera (Daniel has such cute expressions!) and Daniel having fun with his truck. Love the cute chin on our little man, & the hand!

Have a good weekend!

Silly Daddy!

Ben gave Daniel his bath today and then combed Daniel's hair into sort of a mohawk. The funny thing is Daniel's hair is so long on top- long enough to actually pull the look off! Silly Daddy! Mommy, of course, combed it back down. :) Sorry, Daddy.

Check out Daniel's expression and you get a great look at his teeth, too!

Sweet Dreams and a New Record

Well, it's been forever since I posted sleeping pictures! Remember that tiny new baby that slept all the time and all those sleeping pictures I took?! Not so much anymore, but yesterday Daniel broke his napping record and slept for TWO HOURS AND 50 MINUTES!! Ben and I kept looking at the clock and looking at each other, not to mention getting a LOT done! And of course I checked on Daniel. This was what I saw...I checked that he was breathing- yes- and then of course I had to take his picture. Isn't he just so sweet?! (yes, he's supposed to be on his back- we sure put him down that way but he never stays that way now that he rolls and scoots and plays in his crib) Enjoy this peaceful picture!

By the way, the last time Daniel slept almost this long (only shorter by 5 min.) was when his first tooth was just coming in. Now he's got that upper tooth coming in (and today we can see it more), so this long nap makes sense, now that I think about it.

Lil' Scooter

Check out Daniel's scooting in this video! It seems like all of a sudden Daniel just really started scooting- even since I last posted just a couple days ago. I told you he was really workin' it and gosh, yesterday he was taking off all day. He's not as frustrated as he was before and he certainly has a goal in mind and goes for it! Even if it's several scoots away! Go, Daniel! It's such fun to just sit and watch him play. And I love how he looks around and then chooses a toy to go play with- it's just so simple and fun.

Also, at the very beginning of the video, I just barely caught Daniel's head-shaking, so you can kind of see that too. You'll see Daniel scooting to get a toy, and yes, his space was limited and the toy wasn't actually that far away, so it's not the best in terms of really seeing him "go" but you get the idea and it's still SO cute! I'll keep trying!





And get this...tonight just before bedtime, Daniel was playing on the floor and suddenly pulled up his knees. He did it a few times. He didn't do anything else or move that way- just pulled them up and then he just stretched them back out so he was back to being flat on his belly. I'd only seen him do this in his crib- I'm guessing because the mattress is more pliable than the floor. And actually that's how I first noticed the scooting too- in the crib, and then he did it on the floor. He's onto something here. Soon we'll have to take the crib bumper pads out too since he's starting to pull on those. Clever guy! Next thing we know he'll really be crawling!